Why am I passionate about this?

As a development economist I've been on a long quest for policies that actually help promote lives and create long-term wealth. After much searching, I've found special economic zones and other special jurisdictions as holding the key to radical prosperity for the world’s poor today and for humanity at large. Privately governed institutions leverage the power of incentives that we find in a capitalism market system to provide for social services and public goods. Any economists out there looking for hopeful projects to benefit the world economy should start with this short list of core books on this topic. Fortunately, as time goes by, the reading list in this field keeps expanding.


I wrote

The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

By Lotta Moberg,

Book cover of The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

What is my book about?

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have become a popular development policy throughout the world over the last half a century. These…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians

Lotta Moberg Why did I love this book?

This book allows you to think radically about how to create new community and novel forms of governance.

To unshackle ourselves from a history of destructive governance, the idea of Seasteading is to start afresh, in territories not yet governed by anyone, those at sea.

The authors make a compelling case for a seemingly wild idea. 


By Joe Quirk, Patri Friedman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Seasteading as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In these “thought-provoking visions of the future” (The Wall Street Journal), Joe Quirk and Patri Friedman of the Seasteading Institute explain how ocean cities can solve many of our environmental, technological, and civic problems, and introduce the visionaries and pioneers who are now making seasteading a reality.

Our planet has been suffering from serious environmental problems and their social and political consequences. But imagine a vast new source of sustainable and renewable energy that would also bring more equitable economies. A previously untapped source of farming that could produce significant new sources of nutrition. Future societies where people could choose…


Book cover of Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations

Lotta Moberg Why did I love this book?

This book opens your eyes to the power of jurisdictional competition and brings hope of a future where governance is conducted for the benefit of the people being governed, rather than the benefit of government bureaucrats as is the case today.

An increasing amount of SEZs, startup societies, and privately run cities are springing up across the world. Judging by their progress, this optimistic part of human development is likely to continue.

This book opens your eyes to those developments and current opportunities for new and better governance.


By Tom W. Bell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions - common-interest developments, special economic zones, and proprietary cites. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency, to the satisfaction of citizens-qua-consumers. These trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon surpass nation states in the same way that networked computers replaced mainframes. In this groundbreaking work, Tom W. Bell describes the quiet revolution transforming governments from the bottom up, inside-out, worldwide, and how it will fulfill its potential to bring more freedom, peace, and…


Book cover of Founding Startup Societies: A Step by Step Guide

Lotta Moberg Why did I love this book?

Startup Societies are the next generation of SEZs.

In this book, the authors lay out not only the technical, but also the cultural aspects of founding startup societies.

While mainstream people still see the prospects of these kinds of societies as radical, unrealistic, or even harmful, this book allows you not only to dream, but to realize that full-scale projects of new societies, and even new cities, are possible.

These can be governed in radically different ways than the towns and cities we are accustomed to, to the benefit of prosperity and cultural fulfillment of its people. 

By Mark Frazier, Joseph McKinney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Founding Startup Societies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Governance Handbook: Building a Legal Framework for Charter Cities

Lotta Moberg Why did I love this book?

This book is crucial for practitioners of innovative cities, whether new SEZs, charter cities, or various forms of private communities.

It deals with legal aspects and administration in an instructive and professional way.

Anyone claiming that the community of people attempting to foster private and other forms of novel jurisdictions have not thought out the necessary details are proven wrong through this book.

It takes seriously the possible pushback of existing communities and the social institutions of education, healthcare, and the like, that will be needed for new communities to gain public support. 

By Charter Cities Institute,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Governance Handbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Free Private Cities: Making Governments Compete For You

Lotta Moberg Why did I love this book?

This book lays out the logic of governance without state-sanctioned governments.

For those not already convinced, it explains in detail how society functions, at its best, when run by a private corporation rather than entities with monopoly of force.

In the world of commerce at large, those who serve reaps the rewards. Governance is supposed to be about service.

When incentives of service align with those of profits, the probability of good governance is at its highest. 

By Titus Gebel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Free Private Cities as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Imagine a system in which a private company offers you protection of life, liberty and property as a "government service provider". This service includes internal and external security, a legal and regulatory framework and independent dispute resolution. You pay a contractually fixed fee for these services per year. The government service provider, as the operator of the community, cannot unilaterally change this "citizens' contract" with you later on. As a "contract citizen", you have a legal claim to compliance and a claim for damages in the event the provider does not perform. You take care of everything else by yourself,…


Explore my book 😀

The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

By Lotta Moberg,

Book cover of The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development

What is my book about?

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have become a popular development policy throughout the world over the last half a century. These zones form designated areas where governments offer businesses lower taxes, tariffs, and often lighter regulations.

This book examines SEZs from a political economy perspective, both to dissect the incentives of governments, zone developers, and exporters, and to uncover both the hidden costs and untapped potential of zone policies. SEZs can change the politics of a country, by generating a transition from a system of rent-seeking to one of liberalized open markets. In revealing the hidden promise of SEZs, this book shows how the SEZ model of development can succeed in the future.

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What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

By Sharman Apt Russell,

Book cover of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

Sharman Apt Russell Author Of Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Explorer Runner Mother

Sharman's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks left by browsing deer, predatory weasels, and inquisitive bears, skunks, and raccoons. Master tracker Kim A Cabrera provides photos and illustrations.

Winner of the prestigious John Burroughs Medal, Russell also writes about community, a sense of place, and a renewed connection with the nonhuman world. She explores the health of…

What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

By Sharman Apt Russell,

What is this book about?

Did a red fox pass this way? Could that be a bobcat print there in the dirt? Do those tracks belong to a domestic dog or a coyote? Combining lyrical memoir with an introduction to wildlife tracking, What Walks This Way explores the joys of learning to recognize the traces of the creatures with whom we share our world.

The nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife-mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice-near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. With wit and compassion, she guides readers through…


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